CEDAR RAPIDS – A Cedar Rapids man who was previously convicted of mail and identity theft and who signed out of a Waterloo halfway house for work and never returned was sentenced October 1, 2020, to nearly two years in federal prison.
Darrell Clark Turner, age 53, from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, received the prison term after his guilty plea to one count of escape from custody.
In a plea agreement, Turner admitted that, in October 2017, he was sentenced to 38 months’ imprisonment and three years of supervised release after pleading guilty in federal court to possessing stolen mail matter and aggravated identity theft. Turner was released from prison in June 2019. After Turner violated his supervised release conditions, a federal judge ordered Turner to reside in a Waterloo halfway house. On February 25, 2019, while a resident of the halfway house, Turner signed out for work but was a “no call, no show” for work. He never returned to the halfway house. The United States Marshal’s Service arrested Turner on March 10, 2020.
Turner was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Turner was sentenced to 23 months of imprisonment. Turner must also serve a new three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
Turner has an extensive criminal history, including more than 35 convictions. Turner committed more than ten of those crimes while under court-ordered supervision for other crimes. This is Turner’s third escape conviction.
Turner is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be transported to a federal prison.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tim Vavricek and investigated by the United States Marshal’s Service.
